Arts Council of Great Britain: records, 1928-1997

The Arts Council's commitment to touring productions of ballet, theatre and opera dates from
its earliest days, when it inherited the war-time work of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts
(CEMA). In 1970, the Arts Council took over the formerly independent Dramatic and Lyric Theatre Association (DALTA)
and appointed its director, Jack Phipps, to run a scheme to organise the touring of opera, ballet and drama.
Initially, the touring scheme was known as DALTA. By 1973/74, it was being run by the Regional Department and the
name DALTA was gradually replaced with 'Arts Council Touring'. In 1975/76, the Regional Department was disbanded and
a separate Touring Department was formed. This department existed until 1979/80, when Touring was once again
absorbed within a new Regional Department. The next restructuring took place in 1985/86. After this date, Touring
was re-established as a separate department.

This small series of files belonged to Jodi Myers, who spent thirteen years working in
Touring Drama and was Deputy Controller of Touring between 1985 and 1990. Most of the material dates from the brief
period in the early 1980s when the Regional Department had taken over control of Touring at the Arts Council
although some later records reflect the re-establishment of the Touring Department after 1986. The series includes
several files relating to the Touring Officers' Subsidy Meetings. These contain minutes from the meetings together
with related correspondence, applications, touring plans and estimates. Some folders contain show reports and / or
printed publicity material as well. There are also draft copies of the ACGB information magazine 'What's on Where
and When' (1982-1986) and files relating to the touring plans, subsidy and / or sponsorship of a number of different
theatre companies. These files typically contain applications for funding, company policy statements,
correspondence, itineraries, press cuttings (including reviews), printed publicity material, rehearsal schedules,
returns summaries, salary lists, tour budgets and tour reports.

The distinctive ACT/MM references were found on the transfer cases (dated June, 1990) that
held the series before it was re-packaged in archival boxes at the V&A.

General information on access to archives at the V&A is available on the archive pages of the V&A website. If you are unable to
see the table of contents for this online catalogue at the left of your screen, please follow this link.

Restrictions on access

Access to unpublished material less than 30 years old may be restricted and requests for
access can take up to 20 working days to be processed. When applying for access, it is helpful if you can quote the
reference number, title and covering dates of the file(s) in question. For very large requests you are advised to
contact us to discuss your requirements. All requests should be sent by e-mail to archive@vam.ac.uk or by post to
Victoria and Albert Museum Archives (ref. ACGB), Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, London W14 0QX.

This file contains surveys, reports and other material relating to the review
and re-organisation of the touring system carried out by the National Touring Consortium, the
Touring Consortium Working Party and Newchurch Venture Consultants.

This file contains papers on matters including the enquiry into professional
theatre, the arts and ethnic minorities and the re-organisation of the touring sub-committee as well as
agendas, correspondence, internal memos, lists of applicants, minutes and touring schedules for various
drama, dance and opera companies.

ACGB/92/11

Century Theatre Council of Management Papers2 foldersPrevious ref: ACT/MM/010